Fatigue was an issue for both fighters, but Werdum landed when it meant most, and his improved standup paid dividends.

Nelson went head-hunting early, but Werdum tripped him with a low kick, pounced on his back and looked for the choke. Nelson, though, escaped and avoided the potential disaster. Once in the clinch, Nelson landed punches, but Werdum returned fire with big knees. Nelson briefly slowed the attack, but Werdum landed more knees to the nose. After breaking the stalled action, the ref called for the doctor to check Nelson’s badly bloodied nose, but the fight was allowed to continue. On the restart, Nelson knocked Werdum to the mat with a right, avoided Werdum’s high guard, and allowed him to stand. Werdum unloaded a nice punch-knee combo to close out a close but winning first round.

Werdum unloaded another big knee to start the second round, and he then pushed forward with punches and kicks. Nelson mixed in some uppercuts, but Werdum did more damage with low kicks, knees and lunging punches. The pace slowed, and Nelson mixed in some solid single shots, but Werdum clearly was the more successful fighter in the round.

Nelson was the aggressor to start the third round, and he slapped on a standing guillotine choke. Werdum positioned his way out of the submission and broke the hold. Werdum opened up with punches and knees as both fighters fought through fatigue. Nelson walked through the punches, but a badly bloodied face and slow reaction times gave Werdum far too many openings to continue the assault through the remainder of the round.

“I know Roy Nelson is a tough guy, but I train knees everyday in Muay Thai,” he said. “He didn’t [hurt] me, but his punches were strong.”

Werdum (15-5-1 MMA, 3-2 UFC), who defeated the likes of Fedor Emelianenko and Antonio Silva during a successful Strikeforce campaign, is now 4-1 over his past five fights. Nelson (16-7 MMA, 3-3 UFC) halts the momentum of a recent two-fight win streak.